Bar exams' 1st day a smashing success
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.WITH a whopping 96.38 percent taker turnout, the Supreme Court described the first day of the 2023 Bar Examinations held last Sunday as a "smashing success."
The Office of the Bar Chair said out of the 10,791 applicants expected to arrive for the exams, 10,400 braved and completed both the two tests prepared for the day.
On Day 1, the morning exam was Political Law and Public International Law, while the afternoon test was Commercial and Taxation Laws.
Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, 2023 Bar Chair, said the Supreme Court and its 2,310-strong Bar personnel "vigilantly stood watch" over the Bar examinees and "ensured the safe, peaceful, and orderly conduct of the exams.
"Let us all hope and pray that this will continue until the last day of the Bar," he added.
Hernando, who led and directed the conduct of the digitalized and regionalized Bar Examinations from the 2023 Bar National Headquarters at the San Beda College Alabang in Muntinlupa City, said the existing policies were the results of thorough consultations between the Supreme Court, through the Office of the Bar Chair, and law school deans and legal experts.
The traditional monthlong exams purportedly had been "physically draining, nerve-racking, and financially devastating, considering the costs of adapting to the venues of the Bar examinations," which led to a clamor not only to shorten the four examination days but also "to reduce the coverage only to the legal essentials."
Further, Hernando said, the Bar team modified and streamlined the schedule and conduct of the 2023 Bar Examinations in a way that will "gauge the examinee's logical reasoning, knowledge and application of fundamental principles of law, ability to analyze and solve legal problems, and deftness to communicate in precise language."
He said the Bar team further decided to expedite the entire proceedings of the examinations by holding the same in September.
Results' early release
At a press conference on the first exam day, Hernando also confirmed the expected early release of the results of the 2023 Bar Exams.
"This year, however, following the examples of my recent predecessors as Bar Chair, the time spent by the examinees waiting in agony for the results of the exams will be cut short: my team and I are eyeing the release of the results of the 2023 Bar Examinations in early December before Christmas day. The results will, God-willing, come out in early December, before Christmas day," said Hernando.
He also disclosed that the Court shall hold the simultaneous oath-taking and on-site signing of the Roll of Attorneys of the successful Bar applicants before Christmas Day.
"The idea, therefore, is for the Bar passers to join the legal profession in the same year they graduate from law school," Justice Hernando said.
Hernando expressed his hopes that the compressed Bar exam schedule will be "a push for students to fully equip themselves for the examinations before graduation," an "opportunity for earlier employment," a "preservation of examinees' mental health" since a shorter Bar review period means less time and energy for examinees to worry about the same, and an "accelerated professional growth and contribution to society" since it will allow the newly-minted lawyers to begin their professional growth earlier.
The next Bar exams have been scheduled for September 20 and 24.
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.